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ESPN-Spectrum dispute update: Disney deal reinstates college football, NFL games on cable TV

Gabriela Carroll, USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read

The wild carriage dispute between Charter Communications and The Walt Disney Company is over after the two sides reached a so-called fair deal Monday.

The deal will restore the ability for Spectrum subscribers to watch ABC, the ESPN family of networks, Disney and other channels with eligible TV packages, while making exclusive Disney-owned streaming services — ESPN+ and Disney+ — available as well.

The blackout went viral at the start of the college football season when users trying to watch Utah vs. Florida became aware of the outage. As the dispute dragged on, customers were also unable to watch last Saturday's showdown between Texas and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium, among a number of other games.

Disney controls distribution of the ACC Network and SEC Network, in addition to its ESPN channels.

Did Spectrum and Disney come to an agreement?

Charter-owned Spectrum and Disney are coming together to package streaming and cable and give consumers access to all their platforms. For sports fans, this means many Spectrum customers will have access to ESPN+ through their cable package. The ESPN direct-to-consumer service is not expected to launch until 2025 or 2026, but when it does, Spectrum cable customers will also have access.

DISPUTE, EXPLAINED ESPN goes dark for Spectrum cable subscribers amid Disney-Charter Communications dispute

Disney-Charter statement updating ESPN-Spectrum dispute

The end of the blackout is particularly good news for SEC football fans. Every single SEC game last week aired on a Disney network, so most Spectrum customers were blocked out from watching every game on the SEC slate.

The deal is well-timed for all NFL fans, with the deal coming just in time for the highly anticipated Monday Night Football matchup between Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets and Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

"Our collective goal has always been to build an innovative model for the future," Disney and Charter said in a joint statement. "This deal recognizes both the continued value of linear television and the growing popularity of streaming services while addressing the evolving needs of our consumers. We also want to thank our mutual customers for their patience this past week and are pleased that Spectrum viewers once again have access to Disney’s high-quality sports, news and entertainment programming, in time for Monday Night Football.”

Is ESPN+ included in Spectrum TV Select Plus channels?

Spectrum will offer ESPN+ and Disney+ for select TV packages. The details include:

  • The Disney+ Basic ad-supported offering will be provided to customers who purchase the Spectrum TV Select package

  • ESPN+ will be included for Spectrum TV Select Plus subscribers

  • The ESPN flagship direct-to-consumer service will be made available to Spectrum TV Select subscribers when it launches

When will ESPN be back on Spectrum?

Disney, which owns ESPN's family of networks, will return 11 channels to Spectrum customers with eligible TV packages, just in time for Monday Night Football's debut in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season.

The channels include:

  • Disney

  • ESPN

  • ESPN2

  • ESPN Deportes

  • ESPN News

  • ESPNU

  • FX

  • National Geographic

  • ACC Network

  • Longhorn Network

  • SEC Network

Local ABC stations back on Spectrum

ABC7 Chicago

ABC7 Los Angeles

ABC7 New York

ABC7 San Francisco

ABC11 Raleigh-Durham

ABC13 Houston

ABC30 Fresno

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ESPN-Spectrum dispute: Disney returns college football, NFL to cable